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One small carry-on and a laptop backpack are the hallmark of the packing ninja.

There are as many ways to pack a suitcase as there are types of suitcases. But there are certain tips and tricks that can help you pack that travel bag to ensure a maximum use of space, and to minimize wrinkling and creasing. Follow these handy guidelines and there will rarely be a time when you will need to bring along any bag that can’t be put into an overhead compartment.

The most important thing to keep in mind when packing is to minimize what you’re taking with you. Wedding trips and some business trips will require the addition of a garment bag, but if you’re not burdened with a bunch of meetings or a big event to get dressed for, there’s no reason why you can’t fit your clothing into one small rolling suitcase, with a laptop backpack as an overflow backup.

With a little ingenuity, all of these items can fit into one small carry-on suitcase.

Washing machines can be easy to find in most hotels and cities, and there is rarely a reason to bring more clothes than will get you through in a week. On a recent month-long trip to Japan and California, my fiancée and I had each taken along one small roller and a backpack and it was more than enough. A smart traveler can be prepared for anything – even a fancy night out – by packing a version of the following: one pair of dress shoes, one pair of dress pants or an evening dress, one pair of jeans, 2 pairs of shorts if it will be hot, t-shirts, underwear, etc. Dress-up clothing can be used at least twice, and anyone but the sweatiest among us knows that jeans can be worn 30 or 40 times before they start to get really crusty. In fact, an argument can be made that a good pair of jeans doesn’t get really comfortable until somewhere around the tenth unwashed wearing. Don’t be afraid to get a little dirty – you’re a traveler, so it’s expected.

When you’ve picked out your week’s worth of travel wear, put it all to the side, and open your suitcase and backpack. If you’re like me, a laptop and camera are the most essential tools, so pack those first: laptop in the padded compartment, and the camera somewhere near the bottom of the backpack. Pad with an extra t-shirt if necessary. If you’re forced to place your roller in the luggage compartment underneath the plane because of overhead compartment space limitations, you’ll want to keep your really expensive items with you, even if they have to get stuffed under the seat in front of you.

Roll socks into shoes to save space and prevent shoes from being crushed.

Now comes the tricky part. There are a number of popular methods for packing a suitcase: balling, rolling, flat, layering, stacking, etc. The least effective method is to just stack folded clothing one at a time – it doesn’t really make the best use of the available space. Here’s my step-by-step fail-proof method:

Shoes first: Place dress shoes or boots at the bottom of the suitcase, and fill them with as many pairs of socks or underwear as you can. This will prevent the shoes from being crushed, and will maximize the space inside. Place the remainder of the socks and undies to the side to fill in gaps later. Tip: Place shoes into a small plastic bag to prevent them from dirtying the clothes on top.

Roll and lay t-shirts on top of the first layer. Make sure you've filled in all possible holes in... [+] the first layer.

Toiletry bag: With the exception of the zip-locked liquids bag, place your toiletry case at the bottom, near the wheels of the suitcase. This will keep the heavier items inside from crushing any of the clothes as you’re traveling.

Roll the first layer: Lay out jeans or dress pants, fold at the seam or crease, and roll up as tight as possible. I like to stuff these items into the areas to the sides of the shoes, where the retracted handle creates three different rectangular spaces. If you have brought along shorts, roll them and try to place them in the areas left by the bulkier pants and shoes.

Roll underwear and fill in the rest of the second layer. Tighty-whitey fans are excepted, as they... [+] are probably shut-ins anyway.

Fill in the gaps: Use smaller items – underwear, bras, etc. – to fill in the tiny spaces left by the jeans and shoes on the first layer.

Roll t-shirts and line up: I like to create a solid level of rolled-up tees that creates a relatively even layer. This will help keep pressed the folded button-down shirts that you will layer on top.

Roll underwear and fill in the second layer: Now that you’ve rolled all the tees and undershirts to create an nice, orderly layer near the bottom portion of the suitcase, fill in the rest with underwear. (Boxers can be more challenging than boxer briefs or, if you’re an oddball, tighty whities.)

Neatly stack folded button-down shirts on top of the second layer.

Neatly fold and stack button-down shirts: One on top of the other, pressed down tightly, this method will prevent most wrinkles that rolling would create. Other experts swear by the layering method, where one shirt is pushed down in the center, leaving the upper portion sticking out of the suitcase, until all the shirts are layered, and finally folding each shirt top over the previous one in alternating fashion. I’ve found this method to be more time-consuming than it is worth, and it makes pulling out one shirt at a time a painful ordeal of six-shirt unfolding.

Bring along a clean kitchen garbage bag: It can get tricky to separate the clean items from the dirty items in your suitcase by mid-week, especially if you’ll be traveling to more than one place. I like to layer the dirty items at the bottom of the suitcase, then cover them all with my flattened out plastic garbage bag before piling the clean items back in on top.

Finally, place a clean kitchen garbage bag on top to use as a dirty/clean separator between hotels.

And that’s it. A week’s worth of clothing in one small carry-on suitcase. Sweatshirts or jackets should be worn on the plane to save space, and any leftover items that can’t fit into the suitcase can be stuffed into the backpack to act as cushioning for the electronics that you’ve brought. You'll save time during your trip by avoiding the luggage carousel, save money on checked bag fees, and you'll feel a quiet sense of superiority every time you see some travel noob pulling a gargantuan suitcase down the passageways of the airport.

Just make sure you arrive at your gate with time to spare, and that you’re one of the first passengers to queue up when the airline starts calling first-class passengers to their seats. With checked bag fees on the rise and cabins increasingly pushing record capacities, that overhead space can evaporate quickly. Some experts will advise that checking bags will make the entire boarding process move more smoothly, but after a couple of baggage-handling nightmare encounters, I will never again entrust my belongings to careless handlers. Once misplaced, twice shy. Besides, it’s not your fault that airlines are squeezing every last bit of profit out of increasingly shrinking cabin space – get what’s yours and get there early.

I'm a writer, frequent traveler, and even more frequent kitchen superstar. This blog is an attempt to capitalize on those strengths. I live and work in Astoria, New York,…

I'm a writer, frequent traveler, and even more frequent kitchen superstar. This blog is an attempt to capitalize on those strengths. I live and work in Astoria, New York, and spend entirely too much money trying to recreate travel experiences through meals at local restaurants and at home.